The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good

by Goldsmith

THE POWER of SOCIAL INNOVATION Civic leaders across the U.S. and throughout the world are discovering creative ways to overcome the obstacles that seal the doors of opportunity for too many. These inspiring individuals believe that within our communities lie the entrepreneurial spirit, compassion, and resources to make progress in such critical areas as education, housing, and economic self-reliance. Real progress requires that we take bold action and leverage our strengths for the greater good. The Power of Social Innovation offers public officials, social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and individual citizens the insights and skills to create healthier communities and promote innovative solutions to public and social problems. This seminal work is based on Stephen Goldsmith's decades of experience, extensive ongoing research, and interviews with 100+ top leaders from a wide variety of sectors. Goldsmith shows that everyday citizens can themselves produce extraordinary social change. The book explores the levers and guiding principles used by champions of civic progress who drive new organizations, new interventions, or new policies to enhance social conditions. The Power of Social Innovation features illustrative case studies of change-oriented philanthropists, public officials, and civic leaders. While all collaborate across sectors, they run both start-ups and established organizations such as the New York City public schools, United Way of America, the United Negro College Fund, and Teach For America. The book shows the catalyzing role each plays in transforming a community's social service delivery systems. To complement the book's myriad tools and case studies, The Power of Social Innovation web site (www.powerofsocialinnovation.com) provides links to relevant Harvard research as well as additional helpful resources.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Professional Development, Social

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Danielle Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty engaging for a course textbook but not my cup of tea. Interesting case studies but seemed repetitive by the end of the book.

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book with practical perspectives to put public policy back into the hands of citizens. As government has become an oligarchy of financial interests, this book offers leaders new perspectives to effect meaningful change.

[Mimi N · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for my public private partnerships class in grad school and I liked it but wanted to re read it for pleasure... Pity the book became repetitive by the end but still some great cases to read about.

[Lindsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is the potential for some interesting ideas and discussion but the writing style was just too cumbersome for me to get through this book.

[Matej · Rating 2 out of 5]

could really use some editorial work, very hard to follow at times

[Dwight Walker]

looks interesting